88. Evangelos M. Marinakis, President and chief executive, Capital Maritime

Mr Marinakis is well on his way to being seen by Wall Street as a bankable brand name.

If you wanted to float your shipping company on the New York Stock Exchange, the last thing you would want to do is start your IPO roadshow the same week as that of Peter Georgiopoulos’ latest capital markets vehicle – especially in an uncertain market. Right? 

It is a mark of the stature of Evangelos Marinakis that, when faced with exactly this unsettling prospect in early 2010, he saw no reason to back off. His newly launched VLCC and suezmax company Crude Carriers went on to achieve the same pricing from investors as Peter G’s simultaneously launched Baltic Trading. Only a couple of other shipping companies made it all year.

The evidence suggests that with one publicly listed company, Capital Product Partners, under his belt, Mr Marinakis is well on his way to being seen by Wall Street as a bankable brand name.

His stock is high not only in financial circles but also in the shipping markets and in his home Greek community as well.

Marinakis’ Capital group is the biggest counterparty to BP in the medium-range tanker sector and Capital Product ships have been listed top of the oil major’s score card for their performance the past couple of years. The new crude carrying division appears to be equally well regarded at Shell, which has rolling spot-linked charters on several of the company’s big tankers.

Both publicly traded companies are backed by privately held Capital Maritime & Trading, which operates more than 40 vessels in total. 

A private bulk carrier fleet and a foothold in the container vessel market with an initial two boxships purchased in 2010 mean that Evangelos Marinakis has a presence in all the main freight sectors of the industry.

On top of this, since mid-2010 he has controlled Greece’s most successful football club, strengthening traditional bonds between Olympiakos and the Piraeus maritime community, and he also serves as chairman of the national Super League, the equivalent of the Premiership or Serie-A. LL 100